Posted on: May 23rd 2014
This half term, Form 5 have been consolidating their story writing skills, working on improving language, sentence structure and plot development. We used a fantastic animation called ‘The Catch’ found on The Literacy Shed website as the stimulus for our lessons. Children explored each part of the story, discussing mood and character and how they changed and developed through the clip. We then worked co-operatively to create banks of key words, phrases and full sentences that could be used to inspire their own writing.
Have a look at the photos from the story and some of the wonderful sentences the children worked on co-operatively.
The children wrote with creativity and flair and I am so proud of their work. I encourage any visitors to come and have a read. We have authors in the making in our class!
Watch a video, below, showing how writing was developed through this activity: Read Kaya’s story, The Catch:
The Catch by Kaya
Femi, who was hunched over a tiny pond, sat impatiently, waiting for his rod to bend or at least to find a sign of life in the murky waters. Suddenly he felt a violent tug on the end of the line. There was bound to be a fish, a big one. The fish almost dragged Femi into the cold water. Trying his best to maintain the fish, Femi yanked on the bamboo rod as his feet dug into the ground. After heaving as hard as he could Femi had finally caught a fish. Disappointment was written on his face when he noticed how small his catch was.Femi dropped his fish into a woven basket and sat down, dejected. He felt hopeless – there was little chance of catching a bigger fish. Gazing at his village in despair, Femi thought, “How am I going to feed the village? The people will starve and I will be the one to blame!”SNAP! A sound ripped through Femi’s thoughts. He darted towards the cries that came from behind the bushes and found a struggling fox caught in a snare.
Slowly he drew a knife out of his pocket and approached the helpless fox. Femi tore through the trap. The fox pounced angrily onto Femi’s chest, unleashing its claws.
In an instant, as Femi tried to keep his balance, the fox seized Femi’s only fish and sprinted in the bushes with it.
Feeling betrayed, wounded by the thieving fox, Femi chased after it, determined to get back his fish.
Femi bolted forwards then looked underneath the thorny bush unsure of whether to crawl beneath it.
Should he put himself in danger of being cut or stay unharmed yet responsible for his village’s starvation?“I am going to crawl under that bush, and get my fish.” Femi said with confidence. Immediately he crawled until he could see light until he could see light from the other side of the bush. The fox scurried through a log and leapt out of a hole in the top of it. Femi raced after the fox as it rushed up some ridges and headed towards a towering mountain. Courage pumped through Femi’s veins as he scaled the sheer rock face. Finally he reached the top and stood face to face with the fox.
As he ambled towards the edge of the mountain, the light blinded him. Gazing at his reflection in a great vast lake, Femi noticed three miniscule, orange fish swim past. A shadow cast upon him. Startled, Femi caught a glimpse of a massive fish leap out of the water. As the huge fish landed in water, it splashed him like a tsunami.
The fox held a stick in its mouth. Femi tied some string to the stick and assembled a fishing rod. Soon after he had caught a fish. Content with his catch, he generously threw the smaller scarlet fish to the fox, to show his gratitude. Femi headed back to his village, with his prize on his shoulder and a smile on his face. He returned a Hero.
